NBA: Yao Ming at his peak returns to his rookie season

Arenas drives to the basket with the ball.

If the Warriors had a power forward like Dave Wade or Wang Zhizhi at this point, a single pass would score the point.

And the Warriors actually do have that salary.

Arenas and Dampier both had rookie contracts, and now the Warriors have plenty of money.

The problem is that neither of these two guys intended to stay.

They share the same values.

Stay, or you'll have to pay!

What?

Are the alliance rules against you using trucks to deliver money to us?

I'm sorry.

Arenas and Dampier are both the type of players who don't hide their true colors, so the Warriors naturally didn't dare to spend money to improve their roster. This resulted in them averaging above-average points per game, but their winning percentage was abysmal.

The Warriors' coaching staff consisted of Mudelman, who was temporarily hired by the NCAA.

This all has to be considered an investment in the future.

In his previous life, Mudelman played three seasons in the NBA, with a highest winning percentage of 38%. If he were a coach, we could prepare to grab a high draft pick.

Arenas successfully drove to the basket.

However, he failed to pass the ball out and ended up using a very irrational high lob shot.

Because Yao Ming has already helped defend in position, and Yao Ming hasn't gained weight or injured his foot, so his running is actually quite good.

Among the many heavily armored centers in the NBA, he is considered fast.

In Tomjanovich's system, blocking Arenas is a piece of cake.

Close-range rebound.

Yao Ming and Dampier made their moves at the same time!

"Go! Eric!" Arenas exclaimed excitedly.

You can question Dampier's offensive IQ, but you can't question his rebounding ability!

But... it depends on who you're competing with!

Dampier is 211 cm tall and weighs 265 pounds, which is considered a standard height for an inside player. His wingspan is also 220 cm. However, the moment Yao Ming jumped, Dampier was instantly bounced away.

Dampier, who had just landed, was a little incredulous that this was his first time playing against Yao Ming.

It seems that no one ever imagined Yao Ming would have such a strong presence under the basket.

Yao Ming didn't hesitate to pass the ball to Francis.

Arenas is furious!

Even this is too much to fight over!

Defensively, the Warriors' defense can be described as a form of abandonment. They've only won 12 games this season, and they're still getting paid the same amount regardless of the outcome, so why risk their lives?

So, Old Cat Mobley and Francis successfully scored a layup in a series of air passes.

This scene left fans watching on television feeling a little bit shocked.

They've tanked so much, they never imagined a team like the Rockets, where even though it's not a nationally televised game, the number of viewers is enormous.

The home fans at the stadium were not surprised.

But the fans watching on TV were going crazy. Once the Warriors crossed halfway through the game and realized they couldn't catch up, they stopped chasing and just ran alongside, practically watching Francis drive to the basket and then pass the ball back to Old Cat for an assist.

How the hell can you tolerate this?!

Rockets rotation player Glenn Robinson thought maybe that would work too?

As Francis retreated on defense, he passed Arenas. He hesitated for a moment, but still managed to utter some trash talk: "You guys are really nothing, daring to provoke someone with such a bottom-tier level!?"

"Provocation? No, I don't think so?"

Arenas was also quite bewildered, wondering why everyone would think he had provoked them.

It was just a simple greeting.

In the transition between offense and defense, Arenas once again demonstrated his prowess as Agent Zero, driving into the paint alone. However, this time he didn't penetrate to the basket, and was forced to shoot prematurely under the double-team of Francis and Wu Sheng.

Goal!

The Martial Saint tried his best to block Arenas's movement, but the level difference was too great, and he couldn't keep up with Arenas's footwork at all. They were not even in the same league!

Tang Shuai, watching from the sidelines, also sighed.

Stephen Jackson has great talent for defending forwards, above average. For his salary, it's a steal. Plus, his attitude is excellent, so he's a reliable player in the locker room.

However, he was simply too ineffective when defending against stars like Arenas.

Tang Shuai didn't dwell on it too much; he's already this age.

Make hand gestures.

Change the defender.

Francis positioned himself in front of Arenas to defend.

Arenas made it easy for Francis, who was physically weaker than him, and was easily overpowered by Arenas.

But Yao Ming blocked him again.

Arenas considered for a moment before passing the ball to Dampier.

The latter got up and tried to make a layup.

Yao Ming jumped up from behind and slapped Arenas across the face. Arenas's mouth twitched as he looked at the bright red sneakers. Damn, he jumped so low and blocked so high!

That's so unreasonable!

TNT's Barkley laughed heartily: "Great block! Yao Ming's positioning is absolutely top-tier in the league. He's incredibly difficult to penetrate when he's in the paint!"

There's not much to say about this Kenny Smith.

Although he was a shooter, he knew that with someone like Yao Ming crouching under the basket, even if he did nothing, he could still make things very difficult for the opponent.

Yao Ming blocked the shot and then stole the ball.

Today he played with a bit of Shaquille O'Neal's dominance under the basket.

The main issue is that Dampier is not strong enough right now, and he was utterly defeated by Divac in the previous game against the Kings, so he is still recovering from the psychological trauma.

Yao Ming is going to help him cover up his psychological trauma with a new one!

The Rockets launched another counterattack.

Arenas was also mentally exhausted. Losing was acceptable, but losing like this was unacceptable, so Arenas changed the head coach's tactics.

Lead the team to launch a fast break!

Mudelman's idea was to use Yao Ming to give Dampier and Troy Murphy experience.

This will be very beneficial for their future matches.

As long as they can maintain their rebounding, Arenas and Antoine's offensive firepower is reliable!

Unfortunately, despite Yao Ming's performance today, the two players barely had a chance to play before Arenas' mentality crumbled.

He didn't trust his two teammates, so he switched to a fast break!

He was very friendly to himself.

That would be terrible for teammates who are completely unprepared.

Yao Ming played for 8 minutes, and when Dampier was substituted with 0 points and 0 rebounds, he was also substituted by Tomjanovich.

Yao Ming also had 4 points and 3 rebounds in the first quarter, which is not a great statistic for him.

There's nothing we can do about it.

With so much emphasis on defense, the offense inevitably suffers, and the Rockets, led by Yao Ming and Steve Francis, are relentlessly racking up points for Joel.

Old Cat scored 9 points in a single quarter.

"Do you have a problem with Eric? Is it because of his comments in the media?" Coach Tommy looked at Yao Ming, his protégé, with a gossipy expression.

The main reason is that Yao Ming was very mild-mannered in the past.

Many people provoke him. Yao Ming is too famous now, and countless players want to gain some popularity by provoking and defeating him.

This was especially true after Yao Ming became the All-Star vote leader.

Yao Ming's attitude was also very mature.

Are you provoking me because I've become this strong?

That would be incredibly infuriating.

At the same time, he himself was very calm. Yao Ming's defense today was obviously too passionate. He deliberately fouled and did not give Dampier a chance to score.

Unfortunately, Dampier's own free throws were also disappointing.

This is a bit hard to explain. Yao Ming could only say, "Maybe it's because Eric is too ugly?"